Affiliation:
1. Department of Primary and Community Care Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen Nijmegen The Netherlands
Abstract
AbstractAimThe aim of this study was to gain insight into nurses' perspectives on the shift‐to‐shift handover in relation to providing Person‐centred care (PCC) in nursing homes.BackgroundPCC is perceived as the gold standard for nursing home care. To preserve the continuity of PCC, an adequate handover during the nurses' shift change is essential. There is, however, little empirical evidence for what constitutes best shift‐to‐shift nursing handover practices in nursing homes.DesignAn exploratory qualitative descriptive study.MethodsNine nurses were selected purposively and through snowball sampling from five Dutch nursing homes. Semi‐structured face‐to‐face and telephone interviews were conducted. Analysis relied on Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis.ResultsFour main themes were identified related to enabling PCC informed handovers: (1) knowing the resident to be enable to provide PCC was key, (2) the actual handover, (3) additional ways of information transfer and (4) nurses' knowledge of the resident prior to start shift.ConclusionThe shift‐to‐shift handover is one way that nurses become informed about residents. Knowing the resident is essential to enable PCC. The fundamental underlying question is to what extent nurses have to know the resident in order to enable PCC. Once that level of detail has been established, in‐depth research is needed to determine the best method for conveying this information to all nurses. Only then can we start to rethink the role of the shift‐to‐shift handover in conveying PCC‐driven information.No Patient or Public Contribution.